Standing room only at Rubens' home GP

After its resounding one-two finish in the Qantas Australian Grand Prix, the opening round of the world Formula One championship, Ferrari will be chasing its first Brazilian Grand Prix victory in a decade this weekend.

23 March 2000Bob Jennings

After its resounding one-two finish in the Qantas Australian Grand Prix, the opening round of the world Formula One championship, Ferrari will be chasing its first Brazilian Grand Prix victory in a decade this weekend.

And the Brazilian fans have made the event a sell-out, as they welcome Rubens Barrichello (pictured) - second to Michael Schumacher in Melbourne - for his first drive in a Ferrari on home soil.

Pundits say that in Ferrari's favour at the Interlagos circuit, which frequently induces a high attrition rate, will be the Italian team's reputation for reliability. Its main rivals such as McLaren, Jordan and Jaguar now have to overcome the causes of their mechanical problems which stymied their efforts in Melbourne a fortnight ago.

There has been precious little time; the race cars have been transported directly from Australia to Brazil, although development work has gone apace in Europe in an attempt to overcome the woes.

Michael Schumacher, winner in Australia at his 10th try, has made a flying start to the season with 10 points in the can, while his McLaren rival Mika Hakkinen scored none in Melbourne. Barrichello netted six points for his second place, while his equivalent at McLaren, David Coulthard, also emerged with zero, a victim of an engine problem which plagued the McLaren-Mercedes cars all weekend.

Schumacher is eyeing a third world title to add to those he won with the Benetton teamin 1994 and 1995, while if Barrichello wins it will be the first Grand Prix win by a Brazilian since the late Ayrton Senna's final victory at Adelaide in November 1993.

It is a significant fact that in the past six years, the winner at the twisty, bumpy 4.292-kilometre Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo (drivers say the road in is smoother than the circuit) has gone on to become world champion.

McLaren has won in Brazil nine times and Williams and Ferrari five times each. Ferrari's last success in Brazil was in 1990, when French legend Alain Prost scored one of his record six victories in the country.

There is always the prospect of rain at Interlagos, and Barrichello has already proved himself in the wet, finishing second in a Stewart in the rain at Monaco in 1997 and before that, in 1994 - aged only 22 years - he took pole position on Belgium's awesome Spa-Francorchamps circuit in the wet in a Jordan.

Despite the crowd sentiment that will no doubt favour Barrichello, maximum points for Schumacher - probably the greatest rain-master of the past few years - is likely to be Ferrari's priority.

BMW's return to Formula One with the Williams team saw Ralf Schumacher on the podium in Melbourne, while his 20-year-old rookie British team-mate Jenson Button made an impressive debut and there will be great interest in whether the formerly dominant team will be able to maintain its momentum.

Similarly, British American Racing, now using Honda engines, had both 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve of Canada and Ricardo Zonta of Brazil in the points in Australia after its barren debut year when it failed to score a point.

One of the few cars which didn't go directly to Sao Paulo was the Arrows of Pedro de la Rosa, which required a rebuild after crashing early in Melbourne, apparently as the result ofa suspension failure.

His team-mate, Dutchman Jos Verstappen was withdrawn for fear of a repeat of the incident.

Meanwhile, the takeover of Italy's Minardi team by its major sponsor, the Spanish telecommunications giant Telefonica, now appears closer, with former Benetton team co-ordinator Joan Villadelprat of Spain apparently overseeing it.

This follows the announcement that Renault, the dominant engine supplier in Formula One for most of the 1990s, is to return to Formula One after a $198 million takeover of the Benetton team.

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